


We Have Already Paid

by BB_Glitz



Series: I Wore Black and He Wore White [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, OTP: Catch These Hands, minor Shuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 06:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10483866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BB_Glitz/pseuds/BB_Glitz
Summary: Memories haunt them.Sequel to "All I Want"





	

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from "Stranger/Lover" by Ibeyi.
> 
> Seriously, go listen to it. :)
> 
> Oh, there are a few blood mentions in this one.

T’Challa hits rewind for the third time in half an hour.

He has the stuffed puppy from their first date at Coney Island in a chokehold.

T’Challa watches their wedding video when melancholy holds him prisoner.

In it, James’ eyes are bright and he lavishes T’Challa with kisses whenever he’s close.

That day T’Challa indulged him and let James feed him bits of cake.

He absently rubs his arm where the bandages hide beneath his sleeve.

\-----------

The intricate black weave of his suit slips easily into the angular shadows of the modern skyscrapers.

Yet the voice in his ear has to ruin his mood.

“I am vengeance. I am the night—”

“Try it. Just try it,” he says.

Shuri simply laughs.

“Silence.”

T’Challa stretches his hearing toward the buildings behind him.

He hears a breath exhaled.

The bullets hurtling toward him have him sprinting to the slanted tile roof to his right.

His gaze catches on the glint of the scope and the fist of the shooter.

‘Ah. There you are’ he thinks.

He takes chase—leaping over ledges, evading water towers, and bounding over chasms.

The pair lands in a heap eight buildings over.

They trade frenzied blows.

The Soldier shoves a knee into his chest as he tries to push T’Challa toward the ledge.

T’Challa releases his claws to slice into his opponent.

Leather and kevlar rip beneath the sharp tips as T’Challa swings himself and the Soldier closer to the ledge.

The Soldier throws desperate punches to avoid being kicked off the building.

Suddenly, the Soldier lunges at T’Challa’s torso.

Now grappling on the ground, their mingled breath is thick with rage.

The whirring of the Soldier’s arm meets T’Challa’s ears.

He rolls away from the crater where his head could have been.

The Soldier tries to run for the building to east of them.

T’Challa rakes both sets of claws down his retreating back.

Eight long trails now seep blood.

T’Challa watches the blood slide down his gloved fingers.

The Soldier disappears silently.

T’Challa cannot even discern a heartbeat.

\----------------

James hears the front door shut while he shucks the vest and tack gear from the night’s meeting into the trash.

A few minutes later he turns on the shower and lets it run to drown out his thoughts.

They dropped him off **here** , but **where is here**?

James blinks as T’Challa comes into view at the shower door.

“Hey,” T’Challa says softly.

He knows the man.

He knows him on paper.

James spent hours combing the dossier he was given.

Then, the man’s face becomes more solemn.

T’Challa slides beneath the waterfall stream and stares into James’ eyes.

James opens his mouth but no sound comes out.

T’Challa moves to touch him and James nods his assent.

Gentle strokes across his chest and arms bring him back into his body.

He watches the careful fingers covered in white lather cross his torso.

James watches the rust-hued streaks swirl with the lather around the drain.

“I’m sorry. I—” he says quietly.

He thinks he knows why he’s apologizing.

T’Challa shakes his head.

“It’s okay,” T’Challa says seriously, “You can’t talk about fight club.”

James pulls his head up suddenly.

A ghost of a smile is on his husband’s lips.

James tries to smile but he knows it doesn’t quite happen.

T’Challa kisses one cheekbone then the other.

They bathe each other in the silence.

It’s enough.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I live for Kevin Conroy's Batman and I love all my pointy-eared sons. :D
> 
> Tell me what you think. 
> 
> Kudos keep me cool in the heat.


End file.
